Saturday, October 31
Riverside, Calif.
9:15 a.m.
California State University at Northridge
vs
Big West Conference Championship
Photo by: Jeff Golden
CSUN Men and Women Eighth at Big West Championship
10/31/2015 3:16:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The CSUN women's cross country team finished eighth while the Matador men were also eighth Saturday at the Big West Championships at UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course.
Senior Elizabeth Nelson, who had expected to contend in the women's 6k after finishing third in 2014, wound up 26th which was CSUN's best finish in either race.
Nelson clocked a time of 21:52.38 after running 20:27.2 on the same course last year. Freshman Katie Alvarenga narrowly missed finishing in the top 30 as the freshman was 31st in a time of 22:02.69. Alvarenga was followed closely by Rachel Naumann who was 34th in 22:07.22. Also for the Matadors, Rachael Duriez was 49th in 22:47.84, Kimberly Newton was 59th in 23:25.85, Raeanna Cortez was 67th in 24:00.09 and Jocelyne Ferrufino was 69th in 24:22.42.
Cal Poly won the women's team title with 39 points while CSUN was eighth with 186 tallies. The Matador women ran an average time of 22:27.20. Faith Makau of UC Riverside won the individual title in a time of 20:27.50.
"These are women I want to go into a battle with," said head coach Avery Anderson. "Any time your number two runner struggles with health issues it's hard to overcome, yet it's part of the sport. The thing that was great to see was how our women responded, I'm so proud of them for their effort. Had Jocelyne been at full strength we could have done something unprecedented for our program. We return all of our scorers except Liz so the future is very bright."
In the men's 8k which was won by UC Santa Barbara, the Matadors finished eighth after posting 209 points. UCSB's Bryan Guijarro won the individual men's 8k in a time of 24:01.94.
Michael Merchan had CSUN's best finish as the freshman finished 36th in a time of 25:51.16. Also for the Matadors, Charlie Nettle was 40th in 25:59.37, Ricardo Garcia was 45th in 26:16.32, Manuel Vargas was 52nd in 26:41.67, Mario Ramirez was 53rd in 26:45.57, James Silva was 60th in 27:12.48 and Luis Chavez was 63rd in 27:22.53.Â
Anderson was impressed by the performance of his young squad.
"Of the five scorers for the men, three are freshmen and two are sophomores," he said. "In a race dominated by upperclassmen, our young men stepped up and ran with guts. We came into this season having lost our top three runners from last season so we knew it could be a challenging championship meet, but with this kind of production from our young guys the future looks good."
- GOMATADORS.COM -
Senior Elizabeth Nelson, who had expected to contend in the women's 6k after finishing third in 2014, wound up 26th which was CSUN's best finish in either race.
Nelson clocked a time of 21:52.38 after running 20:27.2 on the same course last year. Freshman Katie Alvarenga narrowly missed finishing in the top 30 as the freshman was 31st in a time of 22:02.69. Alvarenga was followed closely by Rachel Naumann who was 34th in 22:07.22. Also for the Matadors, Rachael Duriez was 49th in 22:47.84, Kimberly Newton was 59th in 23:25.85, Raeanna Cortez was 67th in 24:00.09 and Jocelyne Ferrufino was 69th in 24:22.42.
Cal Poly won the women's team title with 39 points while CSUN was eighth with 186 tallies. The Matador women ran an average time of 22:27.20. Faith Makau of UC Riverside won the individual title in a time of 20:27.50.
"These are women I want to go into a battle with," said head coach Avery Anderson. "Any time your number two runner struggles with health issues it's hard to overcome, yet it's part of the sport. The thing that was great to see was how our women responded, I'm so proud of them for their effort. Had Jocelyne been at full strength we could have done something unprecedented for our program. We return all of our scorers except Liz so the future is very bright."
In the men's 8k which was won by UC Santa Barbara, the Matadors finished eighth after posting 209 points. UCSB's Bryan Guijarro won the individual men's 8k in a time of 24:01.94.
Michael Merchan had CSUN's best finish as the freshman finished 36th in a time of 25:51.16. Also for the Matadors, Charlie Nettle was 40th in 25:59.37, Ricardo Garcia was 45th in 26:16.32, Manuel Vargas was 52nd in 26:41.67, Mario Ramirez was 53rd in 26:45.57, James Silva was 60th in 27:12.48 and Luis Chavez was 63rd in 27:22.53.Â
Anderson was impressed by the performance of his young squad.
"Of the five scorers for the men, three are freshmen and two are sophomores," he said. "In a race dominated by upperclassmen, our young men stepped up and ran with guts. We came into this season having lost our top three runners from last season so we knew it could be a challenging championship meet, but with this kind of production from our young guys the future looks good."
- GOMATADORS.COM -
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
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